Discussions
Discussion 1 Jeremy: Discussion 1: What types of oppression are apparent in this novel? How do these faces of oppression shape the character, plot, conflicts, and themes of the novel? Cite textual evidence to support your analysis. What types of acculturation are apparent in this novel? How do these experiences with acculturation shape the character, plot, conflicts, and themes of the novel? Cite textual evidence to support your analysis. Vera: Okay. Let’s focus on question 1. What types of oppression are apparent in this novel? The 5 types of oppression are exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Rebecca: There’s a lot of powerlessness seeing as she’s a Chinese woman who didn’t bind her feet. Vera: You got that right. Exploitation is when someone uses an unfair advantage to bring others less power, so Big Uncle is in the place of the oppressor in here Jeremy: Marginalization is purposefully keeping someone out of power. Her uncle does that. Vera: But it’s more exploitation than marginalization. Rebecca: I agree, it’s more exploitation because the men used the fact that woman were at a disadvantage on their walking skills so they could catch them if they tried running off. Vera: Becca already said how there was a lot of powerlessness, and I agree. Vera: Cultural imperialism is controlling the power of one group. There wasn’t a lot of that, actually. Jeremy: Violence is using physical or emotional strength to hurt others. Rebecca: There’s a lot of that. Jeremy: The binding of feet might actually be one seeing as it actually destroys their life as they can never run again and must waddle everywhere. Rebecca: Hey guys, I’m not feeling too good, I’m going to stop texting for a while. Vera: Okay, you go lie down and watch a good show! Vera: I agree with you Jeremy. It would be horrible if you had to waddle everywhere. That’s very emotionally scarring and physical too. Let’s move on to the next question. How do these faces of oppression shape the character, plot, conflicts, and themes of the novel? Cite textual evidence to support your analysis. Obviously it hurts a lot. Jeremy: On page 39 of Ties That Bind Ties That Break it shows how painful binding your feet can be. Vera: And on page 28 it shows how emotionally shaking it can be. Jeremy: Okay. Let’s move on to the third question. What types of acculturation are apparent in the novel? Vera: Well, there’s assimilation (no contact with original culture), integration (best of both worlds), separation (high involvement with host, minimal with original), marginalization (no contact with any culture, host or original), and transmutation (adding a third culture, often a combination of the two cultures). Jeremy: I think integration is the best that describes her situation. Vera: Same here. Jeremy: Okay so fourth (and final) question. How do these experiences with acculturation shape the character, plot, conflicts, and themes of the novel? Cite textual evidence to support your analysis. Vera: Well at first, Ailin’s acculturation is separation, the minimal amount of contact with the new culture being when she refuses to have her feet bound and goes to a school taught by Americans. Jeremy: Then she changes to integration when she becomes the amah for the Warners. Vera: You got that right. And she was REALLY integrated when she was marred to the restaurant owner. Discussion 2 Rebecca: What does it mean to be an insider or an outsider of a culture? What specific characters in the novel are considered the insiders and outsiders? How do you know? Cite textual evidence to support your analysis. Based on your experiences and real world knowledge, and additional research, has this author created an accurate depiction of the struggles and oppression that outsiders to a culture face? Cite textual evidence from both the novel and the research to support your analysis. Vera: Question one: what does it mean to be an insider or an outsider in a novel? An insider would be someone who follows the rules and traditions of the culture. Jeremy: Outsiders would be those who disrespect the culture (however that wouldn’t make sense as their culture appearance was “attractive”) Rebecca: Yeah and an outsider would be like Ailin, someone who disagrees with the customs. Vera: Alright question two: what specific characters in the novel are considered insiders and outsiders? Jeremy: We already named Ailin, but the grandmother and mother and second sister would be insiders. Rebecca: Ailin is an outsider and Big Uncle is an insider. Vera: Ailin is an outsider and Big Uncle is an insider. Jeremy: Xueyan would be an outsider, she too refused her feet to be bound. Vera: Ms. Gilbertson is an outsider in Ailin’s culture, but an insider in her culture. Same with the Warners. Vera: Next question: How do you know? Jeremy: I know because Xueyan and Ailin refused their feet to be bound. Big Uncle and the other outsiders where very disrespectful to ailin because they were so in to their culture. Rebecca: And Big Uncle wants to rule the family and have Ailin’s feet bound and make her a concubine. Vera: The Warners and Ms. Gilberton because they are Americans. Next: Cite textual evidence based on your analysis. Jeremy: “The families of these three girls believed, as Father did, that times were changing in China and that foot binding was cruel and should be abolished. Xueyan was one of the three girls with unbound feet, and I liked best about her was the fact that she was not ashamed of her big feet. She was proud of them.”(Namioka 53) Vera: Okay. Based on your expierence a and real world knowledge, and additional research, has this author created an accurate depiction of the struggles and oppression that outsiders to a culture face? Obviously no one is going to have an experience with this, so we have to rely on additional research. Jeremy: The book almost seems to soften the real thing, I can only imagine how bad real life is. Vera: Yeah. The book creates a softer version of the topic, but otherwise yes. Cite textual evidence from the novel and other research. That’s the last thing. Jeremy: “When the maid finished pouring the water, Second Sister sat down on a stool and began to unwrap the strips of white cotton cloth around her feet. The strips were long, and the unwrapping seemed to take forever. As one of Second Sister’s feet was being uncovered, I noticed an unpleasant smell. “Disgusting isn’t it?” said Second Sister. “The smell comes from the sweat that gets trapped in the folds of the skin.” “Don’t you wash your feet every day?” I just couldn’t imagine my fastidious sister with smelly feet. Second Sister made a face. “I try to wash my feet as often as I can, but the cloth is bound so tightly that no air can reach the skin. It’s especially bad in this warm weather.” When both strips of cloth were completely unwound, Second Sister stretched out her legs and placed her feet in the hot water. She gave a sigh, and I couldn’t tell whether it was from pain or relief. I stared at the pitful stumps at the ends of Second Sister’s legs. The sight made me sick. I had expected toes at the end of Second Sister’s feet, because how else would they fit into the pointed ends of her tiny shoes.” (Namioka 27-28) Discussion 3 Vera: Question 1: Can readers fully engage in pieces of literature when they are outside the culture? Rebecca: I think they can because the book describes the culture and then after further research, I could really feel as if I was in Ailin's place. Jeremy: I agree, I felt like it demonstrated the culture in a way for us to understand the concept Vera: Question 2: What pieces of the novel do you feel speak specifically to you? Rebecca: This story describes kind of how I relate to my parents Vera: I didn't have much experience besides experiencing a move (Minnesota to here) Jeremy: My experience would be that when Ailin goes to America, it reminds me on how my mom originally lived in Mexico, but then met her future husband at a pool (my dad), then engaged and eventually married. Therefore, that makes me the second generation on my mom's side. Vera: Question 3: What commonalities can you find with the characters that allow you to engage in that piece of literature? Rebecca: I engage with Ailin because I have always wanted to babysit kids for money and move to another country Vera: I love children and being wild, if it were my choice for either bound feet, a marriage, or being free, I'd choose being free. Jeremy: Agreed, Ailin got it lucky and can restart her life in America and find a husband there. Vera: Question 4: How are you able to empathize with a character that is outside of your cultural experience? Cite textual evidence Vera: While I personally have never been in a fight, I have first-handedly experienced moving to a different place Rebecca: I can empathize with Ailin because she is forced to do things she disilkes Jeremy: Since the book describes her personality and culture, it allows us to connect with her, I can feel her trying to push through her life day by day Vera: Now textual evidence, I have "The biggest boat I have ever traveled on had been a ferry across the Yangtze River. And now I was boarding an ocean liner that would cross the Pacific Ocean. At the Shanghai docks, I was just one of hundreds of passengers struggling to go up the gangplank. In my excitement, I didn't have any time to feel any pangs at leaving China (Namioka 119)." Jeremy: I can see how this demonstrates her feelings and how you must have felt when leaving Minnesota or at least felt in the end Rebecca: I agree, if I were moving, I would probably be a bit picky and sad, but in the end, I would be happy about the move.